Sure, you won't have to pay shipping since you can pick them up You going to be around this Summer? I could use a little help at times since I'm planning on getting the 383 finally finished up. All that is left is water jacket filler, then it can be bench fired for the initial break in. GF has been complaining about the $7k+ motor that's been in my bedroom for over a year now.

nope, the only time i am planning on coming down is on my way to st louis for the craftsman nationals in june. I could always save a weekend for ya. I need to use the summer to get a teaching job.

Got the 2nd box out of the mold. This one got 2 to 4 layers of 30 oz Biaxial cloth. After I trim'd the excess off the edges I put it on the floor and stood on it. If it can hold me (270 lbs) on one foot than it should beable to hold the blower motor for a very long time even with the heat.

Sounds good, did the 2nd one come out of the mold easier this time?

Yes, I used Crossfire's method with the clothes pins again. This time I made sure to put a hefty coat of PVA on. Once the part was removed it looked like someone had melted plastic into the mold. Nice thing about the clean up is it's super easy to do. A little warm water and Dawn will clean it right out. I also found out the PVA is actually easier to apply with a towel dripping in it than a paint brush.

Also I went back and fiberglass'd the flaps in both boxes so the air isn't spooling back into the wheel. That was another easy step. LOL, I think I have building braces down to a science after that 4.5 month long subwoofer box project. Took me about 5 minutes to build the braces for both boxes, attach them, and cover them with aluminum foil. I'll work on them again later this week. The flaps will have to have the backside sand'd down smooth with the rest of the box. After that's done I can drill and cut out the holes in the 2nd box. I'll do another test fit with both of them, then they'll be ready to have the edges touched up, primed, and painted.

Post some pics when they are finished.

Nice, as you run more parts out of the mold you’ll find that you won’t have to be as careful with the PVA or even just plain wax to get the part out. Like I sad, as the mold gets seasoned, they tend to work better, and it is not uncommon to loose the first part or 2 out of a mold.

I’m glad that the little trick helped you…

I’m not sure that I’m following… foil?

Are you panning on adding a fitting to attach the motor cooling hose?

Since my mold was a female mold of the 1LE box I was not able to copy the inside design where GM used a steel bend. I built a little kickout with cardboard and aluminum foil I fiberglassed in a few layers for that. The bend is really only present on the 1LE versions because the AC versions were designed with that already. From what I can tell it's just to close off 1/2 the wheel so the air is pushed harder. I used aluminum foil to wrap the cardboard so it repeels the resin.


Here was my first cardboard template used to test the flow change. It produced a noteable change in overall flow I incorporated that into the box design.


Currently I have the boxes cut out exactly like a 1LE shell, so I can attach the hose but it takes the little pop in plastic retainer piece. I looked up that part from GMPartsDirect and could not find it listed. I'm willing to bet that was discontinued along with the boxes. Anyways I'm assuming one can be used off a JY box. I guess I could hack up my AC box for the fitting off it and see if that works. Its not like my AC box is worth any money. More than likely I'll probably have to offer a bolt on fitting piece or template on where to cut to use the one off the AC box. Especially if I make boxes to work with the AC blowers.

Naw, I know what you mean by the little wall in there, I avoided that altogether by making that section of mine narrow so the whole opening of the passage that connects to the car is the width of the opening you want exposed to the squirrel cage.

Mine was more of a technique question… what are you using the foil for?

I see. I wrapped the aluminum foil over the cardboard bracing. Because fiberglass doesn't stick to a smooth surface such as aluminum. After the resin cured I pulled the cardboard and aluminum foil out of the box.

Hey, great project! Those boxes are going for $150 on eBay? Damn, I passed up quite a few in junkyards... don't see 'em anymore tho.

Sadly, Sounddomain isn't letting me change text or upload pics on my own website so I'll have to actually attach a few.

I have the boxes primed and painted. The finish isn't perfect but it looks like the one I got from Dave when I bought the metal box. Mainly, if I were to spend the time to get these perfectly smooth for paint I'd be looking at 2+ more labor hours on each box... atleast.

I've made a 2nd mold for the hose attachments, for which I used my old AC one I cut out of my box.... Sadly, the plug didn't survive the mold.... must have just cured to hot for the OEM plastic. But the good news is I do have mold that I think will work for replicas... YAAAH!

I'm back to just working when I have free time. Between my 40 hrs/week job and my GF nagging me ~60 hrs/week I don't have to much free time.

I went back and used that new mold. I casted a fairly nice part. It only need'd a little touching up with spot putty.

I put the finishing touches on the box tonight. Here's some more pictures!







I'd like to say thanks to MrDude and Crossfire for the help along the way.

Sad news is I'm out of resin and hardner so that means no more replicas (only need a hose attachment to finish off that 2nd box). I have another ~$100 worth of supplies on order! Now I just need to get this box on Ebay to make my money back. LOL, I know why no one has done this before now... My current figures are around $120 to $140 just in supplies before this last order. I'm not even counting the labor hours.

Heh, yea, when I told people what I’d have to sell them for to make it worth doing they start shying away or telling me that I’m crazy…. I’m guessing that if you have a set of molds going that are reusable you could do it much cheaper/faster then I could, but I’m still betting that it’s getting outside what people would jump all over…

those last pics look really awesome. I'm curious to see how much you are able to sell them for.

you wouldnt have to make all of your expenses back on the first box. you need to find out how many you would be gauranteed to sell with a price estimate, then split the expenses between that number and add say 20% onto the cost of supplies and labor time, and that would set you up for coming out with some money made. you would also make more profit on every box sold after the first batch due to not having to devolp the mold again.

hopefully you will make a good profit on this box, as it looks good, and not many other people on the boards are willing to do this type of project.

great job

thanks
anthony